Alexander, William Lindsay

ALEXANDER, WILLIAM LINDSAY: Scotch Congregationalist; b. at Leith Aug. 24, 1808; d. near Musselburgh (5 m. e. of Edinburgh) Dec. 20, 1884. He studied at Edinburgh and at St. Andrews (1822-27); began the study of theology at the Glasgow Theological Academy; and was classical tutor at the Blackburn (Lancashire) Theological Academy, 1827-31. He was minister in Liverpool, 1832-34; was called to the North College Street Congregational Church, Edinburgh, 1834, and remained with the same congregation until 1877. In 1854 he became professor of theology in the Congregational Theological College at Edinburgh, and was its principal 1877-81; he was made examiner in mental philosophy of St. Andrews in 1861, and was a member of the Old Testament Revision Company from its formation in 1870. He was a frequent contributor to the periodicals and edited The Scottish Congregational Magazine 1835-40 and 1847-51; he wrote for the eighth edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica; translated Havernick’s Introduction to the Old Testament (Edinburgh, 1852) and the first division of Dorner’s History of the Development of the Doctrine of the Person of Christ (1864); prepared Deuteronomy for the Pulpit Commentary (London, 1880); and brought out the third edition of Kitto’s Biblical Cyclopædia (3 vols., Edinburgh, 1862-66). His other works include: The Connection and Harmony of the Old and New Testaments (Congregational Lecture, 7th series, London, 1841, revised ed., 1853); Anglo Catholicism not Apostolical (Edinburgh, 1843); The Ancient British Church (London, 1852, new ed., revised by S. G. Green, 1889); Christ and Christianity (Edinburgh, 1854); Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Ralph Wardlaw (1856); Christian Thought and Work (1862); St. Paul at Athens (1865); Zechariah, his Visions and Warnings (London, 1885); A System of Biblical Theology (published posthumously, 2 vols., Edinburgh, 1888, ed. James Ross).

Bibliography: J. Ross, W. L. Alexander, . . . his Life and Works, with Illustrations of his Teachings, London, 1887.